In general it is worth knowing that Pythagoras discovered many ways of teaching and training, and transmitted the appropriate portion of wisdom according to each one’s own nature and ability. And the greatest evidence is this: when Abaris the Skythian came from the Hyperboreans, inexperienced and uninitiated in Hellenic learning, and advanced in age, [Pythagoras] did not instruct him at that time by means of complex theories. Instead of the five-year silence, a lengthy course of instruction and the other tests, he made him immediately fit for learning his doctrines, and taught him in the shortest way possible his treatises On Nature and On the Gods.
For Abaris came from the Hyperboreans, a priest of Apollo there, an old man and most wise in sacred matters. He was returning from Hellas to his own people, in order to deposit the gold that had been gathered for the god of the temple of the Hyperboreans. Passing through Italy and seeing Pythagoras, he recognized a particular likeness to the god whose priest [Abaris] was. Indeed he believed [Pythagoras] to be truly none other than Apollo himself, and not just a mortal resembling that god.
In consequence of the greatness that [Abaris] saw in Pythagoras and the tokens of recognition that in his priestly capacity he recognized beforehand, he gave to Pythagoras an arrow that he had when he left his temple, which would be useful to him in the many difficulties encountered on a very long journey. For riding on it he crossed impassible places: for example, rivers, lakes, swamps, mountains and the like. And talking to the arrow, so goes the story, he performed purifications and drove off plagues and winds from the cities that asked for his assistance. At any rate, we have ascertained that Lakedaimon after being purified by him never suffered from plague again. Formerly it was often afflicted by this misfortune because of the unhealthiness of the area in which it was situated (since the Taugetos range, towering over the city, provides a notable degree of stifling heat). And also he purified Knossos in Crete. And other such signs of Abaris’ power are on record.
When Pythagoras received the arrow, he was neither astonished nor asked the reason why [Abaris] gave it, but as if he were truly the god himself, he took Abaris aside in private, and showed him his golden thigh, giving a sign that [Abaris] had not been mistaken. After enumerating for him each of the things deposited in the temple [in Hyperborea], and providing sufficient guarantee that [Abaris] had not made a wrong comparison, he added that he came for the care and benefit of human beings, and that it was for this reason that he had taken on human form, lest, being astonished at his superiority, they be disturbed and avoid his teaching.
[Pythagoras] bade [Abaris] to remain there with him and join in the improvement of those who came their way, and share the gold which he collected with those suitable, those who were so guided by reason that they made good by deeds his doctrine, which is: ‘common are the things of friends.’ So then, when Abaris agreed to remain with him, as we have just now said, [Pythagoras] taught him his doctrine of nature and theology in abridged form. Instead of divination by the entrails of sacrificed animals, he taught [Abaris] foreknowledge through numbers, believing this to be purer, more divine, and more suitable to the heavenly number of the gods. And he also taught other studies suitable to Abaris’ interests.
Author: Iamblichos of Chalkis
Title of Work: On the Pythagorean Life
Location in Work: 19/90-93
Date of Work: c. 310 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic)
Original Text:
Καθόλου δὲ εἰδέναι ἄξιον, ὡς πολλὰς ὁδοὺς ΤΤυθαγόρας παιδείας ἀνεῦρε καὶ κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν ἑκάστου καὶ δύναμιν παρεδίδου τῆς σοφίας τὴν ἐπιβάλλουσὰν μοῖραν. τεκμήριον δὲ μέγιστον· ὅτε γὰρ Ἄβαρις ὁ Σκύθης ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων, ἄπειρος τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς παιδείας ὢν καὶ ἀμύητος καὶ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ προβεβηκώς, ἦλθε, τότε οὐ διὰ ποικίλων αὐτὸν εἰσήγαγε θεωρημάτων, ἀλλ᾽ ἀντὶ τῆς πενταετοῦς σιωπῆς καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ ἀκροάσεως καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βασάνων ἀθρόως αὐτὸν ἐπιτήδειον ἀπειργάσατο πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν τῶν αὐτῷ δογματιζομένων, καὶ τὸ περὶ φύσεως σύγγραμμα καὶ ἄλλο τὸ περὶ θεῶν ὡς ἐν βραχυτάτοις αὐτὸν ἀνεδίδαξεν.
ἦλθε μὲν γὰρ Ἄβαρις ἀπὸ Ὑπερβορέων, ἱερεὺς τοῦ ἐκεῖ Ἀπόλλωνος, πρεσβύτης καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν καὶ τὰ ἱερατικὰ σοφώτατος, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὑποστρέφων εἰς τὰ ἴδια, ἵνα τὸν ἀγερθέντα χρυσὸν τῷ θεῷ ἀποθῆται εἰς τὸ ἐν Ὑπερβορέοις ἱερόν. γενόμενος δὲ ἐν παρόδῳ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ τὸν Πυθαγόραν ἰδὼν καὶ μάλιστα εἰκάσας τῷ θεῷ, οὗπερ ἦν ἱερεύς, καὶ πιστεύσας μὴ ἄλλον εἶναι, μηδὲ ἄνθρωπον ὅμοιον ἐκείνῳ, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸν ὄντως τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα.
ἔκ τε ὧν ἑώρα περὶ αὐτὸν σεμνωμάτων καὶ ἐξ ὧν προεγίνωσκεν ὁ ἱερεὺς γνωρισμάτων, Πυθαγόρᾳ ἀπέδωκεν ὀιστόν, ὃν ἔχων ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐξῆλθε, χρήσιμον αὐτῷ ἐσόμενον πρὸς τὰ συμπίπτοντα δυσμήχανα κατὰ τὴν τοσαύτην ἄλην. ἐποχούμενος γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τὰ ἄβατα διέβαινεν, οἷον ποταμοὺς καὶ λίμνας καὶ τέλματα καὶ ὄρη καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, καὶ προσλαλῶν, ὡς λόγος, καθαρμούς τε ἐπετέλει καὶ λοιμοὺς ἀπεδίωκε καὶ ἀνέμους ἀπὸ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο ἀξιουσῶν πόλεων βοηθὸν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι. Λακεδαίμονα γοῦν παρειλήφαμεν μετὰ τὸν ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου γενόμενον αὐτῇ καθαρμὸν μηκέτι λοιμῶξαι, πολλάκις πρότερον τούτῳ τῷ παθήματι περιπεσοῦσαν διὰ τὴν δυστραπελίαν τοῦ τόπου, καθ᾽ ὃν ᾧκισται, τῶν Ταυγέτων ὀρῶν πνῖγος ἀξιόλογον αὐτῇ παρεχόντων διὰ τὸ ὑπερκεῖσθαι, καὶ Κρήτης Κνωσσόν. καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα τεκμήρια ἱστορεῖται τῆς τοῦ Ἀβάριδος δυνάμεως.
δεξάμενος δὲ Πυθαγόρας τὸν ὀιστὸν καὶ μὴ ξενισθεὶς πρὸς τοῦτο, μηδὲ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπερωτήσας δι᾽ ἣν ἐπέδωκεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἂν ὄντως ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸς ὤν, ἰδίᾳ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀποσπάσας τὸν Ἄβαριν τόν τε μηρὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπέδειξε χρύσεον, γνώρισμα παρέχων τοῦ μὴ διεψεῦσθαι, καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστα τῶν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ κειμένων ἐξαριθμησάμενος αὐτῷ καὶ πίστιν ἱκανὴν παρασχών, ὡς οὐκ εἴη κακῶς εἰκάσας, προσθείς τε ὅτι ἐπὶ θεραπείᾳ καὶ εὐεργεσίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἥκοι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀνθρωπόμορφος, ἵνα μὴ ξενιζόμενοι πρὸς τὸ ὑπερέχον ταράσσωνται καὶ τὴν παρ᾽ αὐτῷ μάθησιν ἀποφεύτγωσιν·
ἐκέλευσέ τε μένειν αὐτοῦ καὶ συνδιορθοῦν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, τὸν δὲ χρυσόν, ὃν συνήγειρε, κοινῶσαι τοῖς ἐπιτηδείοις, ὅσοιπερ ἐτύγχανον οὕτως ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἠγμένοι, ὥστε βεβαιοῦν τὸ δόγμα τὸ λέγον “κοινὰ τὰ φίλων” δι᾽ ἔργου. οὕτω δὴ καταμείναντι αὐτῷ, ὃ νῦν δὴ ἐλέγομεν, φυσιολογίαν τε καὶ θεολογίαν ἐπιτετμημένην παρέδωκε, καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς διὰ τῶν θυσιῶν ἱεροσκοπίας τὴν διὰ τῶν ἀριθμῶν πρόγνωσιν παρέδωκεν, ἡγούμενος ταύτην καθαρωτέραν εἶναι καὶ θειοτέραν καὶ τοῖς οὐρανίοις τῶν θεῶν ἀριθμοῖς οἰκειοτέραν, ἄλλα τε τὰ ἁρμόζοντα τῷ Ἀβάριδι παρέδωκεν ἐπιτηδεύματα.
Reference Edition: Klein and Deubner, De Vita Pythagorica
Translation Source: Dillon and Hershbell, Pythagorean Way (lightly revised)
Source of Date of Work: Dillon and Hershbell, Pythagorean Way, 20-23
Commentary:
This story and the Souda are the only texts that call Abaris a Skythian, although the much earlier writer Lykourgos also suggested Abaris was not a Hyperborean. In most texts about Abaris he is called a Hyperborean, including by Iamblichos himself in another account of Abaris and in a list of early Pythagoreans.
Abaris was a legendary figure associated with Hyperborea, Apollo and cult practices in Athens, who was also incorporated into Pythagorean legends. Abaris is mentioned or discussed together with Aristeas in another excerpt of Iamblichos and in works by Celsus and Origen, Apollonios the paradoxographer and Clement of Alexandria. Iamblichos also included Aristeas and Abaris among a list of known Pythagoreans, although Aristeas’ life was usually set much earlier than Pythagoras.
Pythagoras is discussed or mentioned in connection with Aristeas in texts by Apollonios the paradoxographer, Maximus of Tyre, Tzetzes and Clement of Alexandria. Aside from Iamblichos’ book on Pythagoras and Pythagoreans, Porphyry and Diogenes Laertios (8.1) wrote biographies. For testimonies and fragments of texts attributed to him, see DK Pythagoras (14). See also Huffmann, Pythagoreanism and Guthrie, Pythagorean Sourcebook.